“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” — Alvin Toffler
Learn, unlearn, relearn.
Are you doing the same things in your business that you did when *everything* worked?
If so, is that still working for you? If it is, great.
If it isn’t, you can be stubborn and wait out the marketplace to see if things come back to those Business-Can-Do-No-Wrong days of the “mid-noughts”.
You could blame the whole thing on Helena and/or Washington. If you do, I’ve no doubt that you also gave them full credit for the unbridled business growth you had in 2005-2007.
Or, you could take things into your own hands.
In Your Hands
For example, if you run a medical facility like an eye clinic or a dental office whose lower tier/checkup services are paid for via insurance and you have patients whose records indicate their services are insured, do you send them a reminder postcard on the anniversary of their last insured service?
I’ll bet many of you do. The postcard probably says something like “Your annual appointment is due. Call us.”
How’s the response to that postcard?
If it isn’t so hot, have you tried different cards to different people?
Don’t feel bad if you do. Learn, unlearn, relearn – remember?
Message to market match
If you send different cards to different demographic groups (such as single, male, female, married, older, younger, etc), you’re doing what direct marketers call “message to market match”.
Direct marketing folks gave it a name for a reason – it’s substantially more effective than “mail everyone on the planet the exact same postcard”.
That means that your message to a particular group of people is customized for them. Their needs. Their wants. Their view of the world, generally speaking.
Do you send the same card to single men, single women, married couples in their 30s, retired couples, “middle aged” couples with kids, single moms, etc?
A single man might see a “Time for your annual appointment” card with a couple of kids and a dog on it and just pitch it.
Likewise, a married couple in their thirties might see a card with a white-haired couple on it and do the same.
Return on Investment
You might wonder if this is worth it.
Here’s how you can test it without spending a ton of money.
Go back and look at last month’s (or last quarter’s) postcard mailings. I’m assuming you can figure out who you mailed since you mailed them in the first place.
The next time you mail that group of people, send half of the female clients a postcard that is designed for a woman.
You can decide what that means in your market, but I don’t mean, “Just make it pink with flowers.”
Send the other half of the women your standard card.
Measure the performance of each card – how many return calls, emails, appointments, sales, etc.
Over time, continue to do any of those things that produce a better response than what you were used to. As response and ROI improves, keep testing two versions of your cards and see how they work.
The one that’s currently producing the best results is called the “control”. Keep trying to beat it.
This strategy can be applied to your phone scripts, your emails, your Facebook page, your tweets on Twitter, your Yellow Pages ad, your newspaper / radio / TV ads and so on.
Insurance-paid services aren’t a requirement to do this sort of thing. I’ve yet to see a business that can’t benefit from this and do so without being annoying to their clientele.
Make it happen
I don’t remember who originally said this, but someone once said “There are three kinds of people: Those who make things happen, those who watch things happen and those who wonder what happened.”
Relearning how to make the phone ring is no one’s responsibility but yours. I think that’s a good thing.
Be the one who makes things happen. It has a way of keeping you from being the one who wonders what happened.
Want to learn more about Mark or ask him to write about a business, operations or marketing problem? See Mark’s site or contact him via email at mriffey at flatheadbeacon.com.